Is it OK to feed my dog once per day?

Feeding my pets once per day

I started feeding my dog and cats once per day about six weeks ago. This began as a trial, but it’s been going so well I may stick to this schedule.

I switched my pets to one meal per day instead of two as a way to cut back on stress for myself. I have a cat named Beamer with an unhealthy food addiction, and the constant meowing and harassment before mealtimes really, really gets to me. My mutt Ace and my other cat Scout are a bit more subtle about begging, but still annoying.

In addition to the begging, let’s just say Scout has been having some bathroom issues. Apparently the litter box is now optional for Mr. Princess. Feeding him once per day is a way to control his “schedule.” I’ve been treating this cat like a puppy and restricting his freedom until I know he’s “gone.” It’s just easier to deal with this once per day.

So to make it easy, I switched all three pets to one meal per day, and they receive this meal in the morning. It makes my life less stressful, and the animals don’t seem to mind.

Like most people, I assumed my animals would “protest” this new schedule and beg like crazy for their second meal around 5 p.m. Instead, what I’ve noticed is my dog and cats beg because it’s part of their routine. They are not necessarily hungry.

My cats beg by showing exaggerated affection, scratching things to get my attention, head-butting me, jumping in my lap, poking me with one claw and meowing. My dog begs by exaggerated yawning, whining, nudging my arm and staring at me. He will also grab a bone and chew on it as loudly as possible right next to me.

Here are some examples that show my animals beg because it’s part of their routine:

“Triggers” in our routine cause my dog and cats to beg.

There are many pieces to our routine that cause my animals to ask for food. They know every detail of what formerly lead to their evening meal. When these “triggers” in our routine take place, they beg. If these “triggers” do not occur, they do not beg.

The most obvious trigger is when Josh comes home from work around 5 p.m. This “excitement” sets off the begging. On the weekends, 5 p.m. rolls around (and then 6 p.m. and then 7 p.m.), and there is no begging. Josh worked from home yesterday (and therefore did not come home at 5), and there was no begging.

Josh’s mom has been staying with us this week, obviously altering our routine a bit. There has been no begging this week.

My dog and cats always stop begging around the time they would’ve eaten.

Even when a trigger causes my animals to beg, they always stop begging around the time they normally would’ve finished eating. They don’t beg after 6 p.m. or so. The recent time change has also worked in our benefit. Once it’s dark, the animals assume feeding time is long gone.

This tells me that although certain triggers have conditioned my animals to ask for food, there are also triggers that tell them to stop asking for food.

Is it safe to feed my dog once per day?

This is a good question to ask your vet because some dogs need to eat more than once per day. It’s usually best to feed a growing puppy two or three times per day, for example. But for the most part, adult dogs will do just fine eating once per day.

I know some people are sensitive about comparing dogs to wolves, but I pet sit and foster a lot of dogs and I notice that many of their natural eating habits do compare to the way wolves eat in the wild.

It’s usually feast or famine for gray wolves, according to the International Wolf Center, an organization that provides information on wolf biology. Finding food is a full-time job for them, so they have to be able to go days or even weeks without eating much. When they do catch a large mammal, boy do they eat! A gray wolf is able to eat up to 22 pound of food at one time.

Many of the dogs I care for choose to eat once a day or even once every two or three days. They eat a large quantity of food at one time and then they are good to go for a few days. I believe that part of the reason they eat this way when I care for them is because their routines are off. Their usual “triggers” such as their owners coming home from work do not occur so they eat when they are naturally hungry.

When I travel with my own dog, he doesn’t ask for food around his usual mealtimes. There are no triggers to tell him it’s time to eat, and he is usually focused on more important things like new smells or getting someone to scratch his head or throw a ball.

Another factor to keep in mind is that most dogs would love to be out exercising for most of the day just like wolves. Most dogs would prefer to work for and earn their food. I’m not saying this is always convenient for the humans. I don’t always walk my dog before he eats. It’s just something to consider. After all, most of us would prefer to work for and earn what we own rather than have everything handed to us.

Will my dog throw up if he eats one large meal?

He might 🙂

My dog is one of those big-chested dogs with a tiny waist. I always make him lie down after he drinks water or he will throw up. That’s just the way he rolls.

Bloat is always at the back of my mind as well. Bloat in dogs occurs when a dog’s stomach fills up with air, making breathing difficult because of pressure on the diaphragm. So when Ace eats a large meal, I keep him quiet for an hour or so afterwards. He is fine to go for a walk, but I don’t throw his ball or take him running until a few hours later. He naturally wants to curl up for a nap after he eats anyway.

How should I switch my dog to one meal per day?

Just switch him, cold turkey. It’s no big deal. Just combine his meals to one so he gets one larger meal. If he doesn’t eat all the food, then put it away after 10 minutes. He’ll be hungry the next day. Feed him at the same time every day to help him get used to the new routine. Don’t feel bad for him. He’ll adjust to the new routine after a few weeks.

I’m not saying it’s better to feed a dog once per day. It just works for me and my dog right now. I might stick to this schedule or I might not. If you want to feed your dog two or three meals per day, then by all means, go for it.

Some people will definitely call me lazy for only feeding my pets once per day. Maybe it is lazy. But making cuts to a routine is not always the easy route. Who is more disciplined? The person who checks her email once per day or the person who checks her email multiple times per day?

How many meals per day do you feed your dog or cat?

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30 Comments

I feed my foster dog twice per day. He’s so skinny from being in a shelter that I’m trying to fatten him up. Growing up though, we only ever fed my family’s dog once a day and she never seemed to mind.

I think you’re probably right about all those triggers. Our dogs eat twice a day and that seems to work well for all of us. I have fed previous pets once a day too. Pets are pretty adaptable, so I say an owner should do whatever works best for their own schedule. In my opinion, the key is to not over-feed. So if you do feed more than once a day, be sure the total intake is the right amount.

When we had one dog, we free fed. When we had two larger dogs, we fed twice a day. When Smokey got sick and stopped really eating, we switched to once a day because it made it easier for us to monitor what he was eating and what June was helping him out with. Now that we’ve got the two little dogs (each eats about half of what the smaller of our two larger dogs ate) we feed once a day.
The current two are definitely trigger dogs. They know when I get home from work, they get fed. Weekends they don’t notice much if they are fed late.
For Smokey (Lab/Pit), however, that was not so. His tummy was one of the most accurate clocks I’ve ever had. He’d wake me up on weekends to feed him. Falling back off of Daylight Savings always took a couple days to reset his tummy. It didn’t matter what we were doing or not doing that day, he knew when it was time to eat.

I’m sorry to hear about your bathroom problems! They are always annoying! I house sat three cats and could never figure out which one was the one that decided not to use the litter box. Of course it could have also been that they were a little over weight…

Sadly I was house sitting them one time and had to get the least friendly one to the vet. He was not keeping down food… He has passed on but will always be remembered!

I know some dogs who are free fed, some twice a day and some once. I totally agree that it is owner preference!

I don’t think once a day would work for us. The reason being that Belle will puke in the mornings if she doesn’t get fed on a regular schedule. During the week we do a 7am and 7pm feeding. On the weeekend if I feed her after 8am and closer to 9am she might have to run out side and puke…Which happened this weekend. I always feel awful for her but she eats right after it and doesn’t have any gastric stress so I am not too worried. Especially if we feed them late the day before she doesn’t puke. As always soo many different ideas and ways to do things! 🙂

Mr. Princess Scout has been good for two weeks straight! So I think he is doing better. He gets confined to the laundry room for about two hours in the morning where he eats and uses the litter box. Then he gets freedom after that and he has been good 🙂

A former boyfriend had an elderly black lab when I met him. She was slow as old dogs are, without a great deal of energy. He fed her once a day. When we moved in together, we started feeding her twice a day bc my dog ate twice a day. The increase in her energy was very dramatic. And not just enthusiastic begging at meal times, though there was that for sure (she was a lab after all). But all day long, she had much more energy for walks and other activities.

I think feeding a dog once a day is completely fine! Especially with overweight dogs. My lab/pit mix is overweight. Mainly because,she got heartworms when she was two years old[most awful experience for both of us,so people make sure you get your dogs the preventive.] and my mom and i[i’m only sixteen.] stopped walking her because she had to relax after getting her shots. She’s been out of exercise for two whole years. I can’t believe we let her get this way but,i worried so much,was too afraid to walk her.
But now we are getting back on track,been walking her ten minutes a day for a month now and she’s doing great,i’m so proud of her! But recently we’ve been giving her two bowls a day,and it seems to have affected her mood a lot more. When we gave her one bowl,she always begged and would snap a lot if we got near her bowl. That has changed since we’ve given her two bowls. She won’t growl at all,and will even let us take the bowl up with food in it. But then with her weight problem,it sometimes gets difficult to find a healthy balance.
And then of course my other dog,only gets one bowl because she’s much smaller and just grazes on it all day.

“Unless your dog has a special medical requirement, we recommend that adult dogs are fed once per day. The empty canine stomach is like an accordion containing many folds. Within these folds are glands that assist with proper digestion. It is only when a dog has taken on a substantial meal that the stomach is stretched and the glands exposed and activated. Feeding a dog more than once per day leads to inadequate digestion and a constant feeling of hunger. Providing your pet with one substantial meal per day leaves them satisfied and satiated. ” – Taken from Totallyrawdogfood.com

Now, as a note, I personally feed a 100% raw meat/bone/organ diet. I also believe that this statement of feeding once per day works *best* on a raw diet(Because SO much actual nourishment is absorbed- Hence the small raw dog food poop!), therefore, the dog truly is not as hungry. With kibble, not to say it could/does not work, I just feel like it doesn’t become truly absorbed as *well* as raw food. Between the processing of the food and the list of many ingredients(Alot are usually very species inappropriate, grain free or not), I find it hard to believe they could truly thrive as well off of one kibble/canned meal, BUT, as least they are expanding their tummy to activate the digestive juices, if you will, heheh. Also, I totally agree with you on the concept of their dietary habits being similar- if not exactly- like wolves. I live in a multiple dog household and I too witness extreme familiarization during meal time and even dog to dog lingo. However, I do not work with them as a wolf/dog and exclude any training or interactions that aren’t of the operant conditioning/clicker method!

I totally agree with you. Raw feeding is the best way to go (for most dogs, anyway), and feeding raw once per day makes a lot of sense to me. Since feeding my pets once per day, I’ve actually been thinking about feeding them raw again since it seems like it would be so easy. I fed my dog raw from about March through May of this year but switched him back to kibble because of costs and convenience. I had thought about feeding him raw in the morning and dry at night, but decided against it because he tends to have digestive issues when I do this (makes senses, as kibble is much harder for a dog to digest). But the once-per-day schedule would make it easier to mix up what I feed him since his body would have more time to digest/adjust.

Eating 100 percent raw is the healthiest way for most people, too, but I certainly don’t eat 100 percent raw. I don’t even eat 25 percent raw. So I think my dog can survive just fine on the highest-quality kibble brands.

For years I have understood that the only time to restrict your dogs food intake was if the dog was getting too heavy or too thin. Too thin means they think they have an endless supply of food, so they don’t care to eat and stock up. To heavy and they are obviously overeating. Limiting their food in these cases may correct the situation, but all other times the dog should get to eat as much as it wants. It sounds reasonable to me and has worked for my own dogs.

I don’t like to have food available at all times for my dog. I like to use his food as a reward, and he seems to enjoy working for and earning his food. I’m not sure if he would overeat if I left his food out all the time. The reason I can’t try this is because I have a cat that definitely would overeat. He is not a normal cat. He has an extreme food obsession, and will eat and eat and eat.

I feed my dogs twice a day. I used to feed them once, but I don’t like thinking their stomaches are empty & I hate thinking of filling my German Shepherds’s stomaches full of food in one meal…. because the possibilty of bloating.

I own a lab mix and a rough collie mix, and let me tell you, if I let my lab free feed she would weigh 200 pounds and my collie would be sickly thin. She will eat until she’s sick. I feed them once per day in the morning their recommended intake, and most days they get a treat around supper time. As for your cats, my vet advised me not to feed them only once because they can’t control their glucose levels on their own, where as dogs can. But it sounds like you have more of a reason to try. My vet also said that if your trying to control weight in a dog, more meals is better, but if they are healthy, one meal Is fine. I like seeing everyone’s input! Thanks 🙂

iv feed my mozey once a day now for 5 yrs. Past dogs iv fed the same once a day. They have been fine. My mozey is now nine and has as much energy now has she has always had. She’s never been under weight or over weight. Some good info on this thread Thankyou

I have two smaller dogs. One is on a hepatic diet, and one has a sensitive stomach. I have found that i can feed them their respective canned food once a day. I can leave a small amount of dry dog food out all day. They much prefer the moist food and only eat the dry if they’re hungry, which isn’t often. Maybe once or twice a week. Neither is overweight. They are both active.

Cold turkey? that is CRUEL? Are you KIDDING? Talk to your vet. If you are feeding your pet twice per day and all of the sudden shift..that is CRUEL and just go ahead and find a dear friend who will LOVE your pet as a family member. My goodness : shifting a pet’s food ..one should slowly introduce the new food….tha’s from a Vet…and now you are saying I’m used to breakfast and dinner and you’re just going to STARVE me for one meal – that’s what it is. that is cruelty. WE as humans have DOMESTICATED pets – comparihng them to the wild is NUTS and INGNORANT – so PLEASE – talk to your vet and someone who understands pets and IS NOT TRYING TO JUST ACCOMODATE A PET TO THEIR STYLE FOR THEIR OWN SAKE. pets are a gift from God – and if we have the blessing of their love – let’s return it – not abuse it.

I feed my chihuahua minipin mix once a day. Asa puppy she ate three times a day. Then around seven months she ate twice a day. She’s now ten months and only eats once a day. She switched to once a day all on her own. Sometikes she goes two or three days without eating and she’s perfectly healthy!!

When I newly adopted my underweight dog,he was fed twice a day and loved it . Feeling plentiful in his new home .Two months later he had a growth spurt needing more food! Then he seemed to be getting cubby so I reduced his meals. Now 8mos later he doesn’t want two meals n prefers only one meal a day. If he chooses not to eat. Because it wasn’t delicious enough. I don’t mind. Dogs can go a few days without food some people intentionally skip a day thinking it’s better for the digestion

I switched to once a day a few months ago.Mine are eating better than ever. They didn’t eat well at second time before so we tried the once a day feeding.Huge success. They look good, have not lost or gained weight. They get snacks once a day. That is early mornings after first outing of the day